مجله علوم روانشناختی (Nov 2023)
The efficacy of treatment based on acceptance and commitment on emotion regulation and blood pressure reduction in people with coronary heart disease
Abstract
Background: Numerous studies confirm the effect of psychological factors on the occurrence of cardiovascular diseases such as blood pressure. These diseases affect the quality of people's emotions and health. So far, various treatments have been performed to reduce blood pressure, but it seems that the role of psychological treatments such as treatment based on acceptance and commitment in regulating emotions and consequently reducing blood pressure has not been paid enough attention. Aims: The aim of the present study was to investigate the efficacy of acceptance and commitment therapy on emotion regulation and blood pressure reduction in people with coronary heart disease. Methods: The present research method was applied and quasi-experimental designs of pre-test-post-test and 6-month follow-up with a control group. The statistical population of this research included all people with coronary heart disease who were referred to Shahid Beheshti Hospital in Nowshahr. The sample of this study includes 30 people with coronary heart disease who were selected using Convenience Sampling. The data were obtained using the emotion regulation questionnaire of Granfsky et al. (2001) and a sphygmomanometer. The protocol used in this research was based on the proposal of Herbert and Furman (2011), which was designed and implemented in 8 sessions of 60 minutes. The data were analyzed using the Mancova method and analysis of variance with repeated measurements, and the above statistical analyzes were performed using SPSS-26 software. Results: The results showed that there is a significant difference between the mean scores before and after the intervention between the experimental and control groups (p<0.05). The average blood pressure of the subjects in the pre-test of the experimental group was 15.16 and in the post-test stage, it was reduced to 12.83, while there was no significant change in the control group. Finally, the findings indicated that the treatment based on acceptance and commitment statistically affects emotion regulation and blood pressure reduction in people with coronary heart disease. Conclusion: It can be concluded that the treatment based on acceptance and commitment can be used as an effective intervention to improve emotion regulation and reduce blood pressure in people with coronary heart disease.
